Digital Killed the Analog Star

Since we formed Econsult Solutions in January 2013, we have been much more aggressive about our self-promotion.  One manifestation of this is our email newsletter and related blasts.  I like to joke that if I make it down the street without tripping, that's cause for sending out a mass email.  All kidding aside, though, we do want people to be aware of what we are up to, and impressed enough that we are doing lots of good stuff that they will want to hire us.

Obviously, so many emails can get on some people's nerves, and we have had our share of unsubscribes.  But the majority of the feedback, at least to my face, has been overwhelmingly positive.  People like receiving these news blasts, they admire that we are doing lots of good things, and they commend us for being active and consistent in our marketing.

It tells me that I can be less concerned about the possibility of "too much email."  Years ago, there were more people who did not like and in fact got quite enraged when their inboxes were stuffed with promotional messages.  Nowadays, people have gotten more comfortable with higher volumes of information.  We can choose to read, save, or trash any given email without feeling like it took a whole lot out of our lives.

From the sender's side, this is great news.  We want people to read our blasts, of course.  But even if they don't, the fact that they received it and registered in their head that we did something newsworthy is a plus for us.  And if they delete it immediately, at least they did not do so in a rage.  In other words: lots of upside, very little downside.

Perhaps we are finally moving into a fully digital world.  I've made this point before, but digital is different than analog.  It used to be that how much space an entry got in an encyclopedia set was correlated with that entry's importance, which made sense when you were physically producing the things and there were real costs associated with having to print more pages.  When Wikipedia first came out, and Britney Spears' entry was longer than St. Augustine's, people thinking the old way got upset, because that meant Britney Spears was considered more important than St. Augustine.  But in a digital world, a longer entry means nothing. 

Of course, if we send so many emails that any one email gets devalued to the point of nothingness, that's not good, either; that's the modern-day equivalent of the boy who cried wolf.  But I like that we regularly blast our honors and actions to our subscribers, because that's what I want in return from people and organizations I want to keep abreast of.  There are some things about this brave new digital world that aren't half bad.